Page 16 - August 2018

made the claim that even up through 1882, the Chinese did referred to in North America as Chinese Freemasonry)
not have any Freemasonry connections, though they were spread rapidly through the United States of America and
starting to incorporate some traits. In 1884 The Helena Canada, assisted by the mode of transport which they were
newspaper reported that there was even the excessive pomp instrumental in constructing the railway. In areas such as
and attendance at a funeral of a Chinese man in Helena was Boston, San Francisco, and New York, the Chee Kung Tong
discussed in relation to his position as a head person among exists even today.
the Masons.
There were six major Tongs operating in North America.
Chinese Arrive In Helena Montana Territory Each had an associated gang which conducted the unsavory
part of their operation, the only exception being the Chee
By 1866 descriptions of Chinese began appearing in a Kung Tong or ‘Chinese Masonic Society,’ which had no
variety of historical documents, showing a signifi cant affi liated gang. The six Tongs with their associated Gangs
increase in population throughout the Montana Territory. were:
The fi rst mention of Chinese in Helena is in the Lewis Tong Affi liated Gang
and Clark County Deed Records, where several groups of
Chinese companies began to purchase mining lots in the On Leong Ghost Shadows
“Rattlesnake District” of Last Chance Gulch. It is recorded Hip Sing Flying Dragons/Wah Ching
in the deed books that in 1866 groups of Chinese miners Hop Sing Hop Sing Boys
bought several placer claims in upper Last Chance Gulch. Tung On Tung On Boys
At the time of the Chinese purchase of claims and lots, Fukien American Assoc. Fuk Chink
Helena was part of Edgerton County, named after the fi rst Chee Kung No Affi liated Society
2
Territorial Governor of Montana appointed by President
Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Edgerton County was offi cially The Glory Days of the Chee Kung Tong
renamed Lewis and Clark County on March 1, 1868. The
most interesting aspect of the purchase of claims and lots The 1890s saw the Chee Kung Tong at the peak of its
by Chinese is that after 1866 there were no more recorded power. Chinese texts and objects in museum collections
deeds under Chinese names until the 1900s in Lewis and point to the same conclusion as do historical photographs
Clark County. The Chinese population of Helena was and English language newspapers. The Chee Kung Tong was
unsurpassed by any other single district in the Territory by far the most crucial institution in most North American
during the 1870s and comprised nearly 21% of the residents Chinatowns. In 1895, the San Francisco Chronicle stated
in that township. that, contrary to what most Americans believed, the Chinese
Six Companies [i.e., the Zhonghua Huiguan or Chinese
It appears that the majority of Chinese in Helena clustered Consolidated Benevolent Association] had “little or no
around the downtown area, near the mouth of Last Chance authority” compared with the Chee Kung Tong.” There are
Gulch. Newspaper accounts indicate that Chinese businesses Chinese Masonic Societies (Chee Kung Tong) in Mexico,
and habitations were in and around the intersections of Hawaii, England, Canada, and other countries. To give
Cutler, Water, and Main. As noted in the 1870 federal some appreciation of its spread, in the early 1990s Hawaii
census, Helena had a population of 666 Chinese, including was host to a world ‘Chinese Masonic Society Conference.
60 women, by far the largest number of Chinese females in
the Territory. By the 1870s there were a number of Chinese Mother of Chinese Secret Societies
mining operations in western Montana. As placer mining
declined during the late 1870s and 1880s, the Chinese The secret society that called itself the Chee Kung Tong
moved into other fi elds such as railroad construction and (Pinyin: Zhigongtang, “Hall of Universal Justice”), was the
business which served not only the Chinese population but dominant organization in New World Chinatowns in the
the white majority as well. Montana’s largest communities late 19th century. Just about all Chinese secret societies
of Chinese were in Butte and Helena. were, in a way, descended from it. The organization itself
was already old. Its parents were the cluster of independent
Overview of the Chinese Masonic Society but closely linked secret societies called the Hongmen
(“Hong Gate”), the Hongshuntang, the Tiandihui (“Heaven
The headquarters of the World Chinese Masonic Society and Earth Society”), or the Yixinggongsi (“Company
or Yee Hing in San Francisco changed its Chinese name to for Promoting Integrity”). All members were sworn to
the "Chee Kung Tong" and advised all Chinese Masonic overthrow the Manchu dynasty that ruled China, which
Societies to adopt this new title. It was recorded that the meant they were fi ercely persecuted by the government in
Yee Hing had a membership in San Francisco in 1886 of Beijing. Such societies existed in China from the eighteenth
4500, and in the Americas where the Chinese had penetrated century onward, had spread to Southeast Asia by the early
the total membership was 15,000. Their records indicated nineteenth century, and came to the Americas with the
that they had branches in 390 towns in the United States, fi rst would be Chinese gold miners in the mid-nineteenth
Canada, Spanish America and Cuba. San Francisco, as century.
stated earlier, was the World Headquarters of the Yee Hing
or ‘Chinese Masonic Society.’ In 1919 the Headquarters As early as 1854, local English language newspapers
issued a statement indicating that all ‘Chinese Masonic reported that the “Hung Society” was active in San
Societies’ were to be also known by the Chinese title Francisco. The name “Chee Kung Tong” did not exist in
'Chee Kung Tong'. Chinese Masonic Societies (sometimes those days. Chinese societies in China and Southeast Asia
Page 16 Montana Freemason August 2018